Different
by Dilwy
Summary: Rowan of Locksley discoveres what makes her so different. Two-Shot
1. Chapter 1

**So, this is my first fanfic for Once Upon a Tone and my first fanfic that I've written in years so it's probably pretty crappy, but hey, why not?**

 **The Zelena pregnancy storyline is a big shit storm, but I've seen some pretty great things written despite that so here is something I wrote that's probably a big shit storm too about Robin and Zelena's daughter, Rowan (everyone seems to be naming her Merida and I wanted to be different, plus there's a series about Robin Hood's outlaw daughter named Rowan Hood) so, here**

Rowan has always known she was different. Even if no one had told her, she knew. Some people in town, they tried, tried to hide it with pleasant smiles and welcoming greetings. Others, well, they didn't care for such things. They gave her dirty looks, sneered at her when she walked past. And then some just avoided her all together.

And that was just the "adults" in town.

Children are much more brazen. They don't care about hurting ones feelings, at least when they're young. And some of the bullies, well, they never grow out of it, they're assholes their entire lives.

When she was four she didn't understand. Why some of her classmate's mommies wouldn't let them play with her, why some would look at her like she's some abomination. When she was seven, she didn't understand why Mary-Margaret would let her eat lunch in the classroom when no one else could, not even Neal (and she never let Roland do that, her brother had told her as much).

When she was eight she started noticing things about her family, their looks in particular. She knew that Henry wasn't actually mama's child (aunt Emma had carried him in her stomach, and mama raised him) but even he had mama's dark hair, like Roland. She and her papa were the only ones with different colored hair, but her papa's hair wasn't like hers. Hers was orange, like the fruit, or maybe it was more like fire, while her papas reminded her honey. She noticed things about her mama too. Or, more so, how she didn't look like her mama. Her mama had dark hair, like a raven's wings, and dark eyes, while her tendrils of hair were wild and red, her eyes were like her papas, blue, like the beach that they went to during the summer. Her skin was different too, her mama didn't burn as easily in the sun. She couldn't understand stand why she looked so different, until one day at school (the one day she decides to go outside during recess instead of staying with Mary-Margaret) some boy with a mama that looked at her with disgust told her that the Mayor wasn't her real mom, that her real mom was a monster. She didn't believe it (she did, but she didn't want to), then more kids started taunting her, teasing her, and Neal tried to help (he was always trying to help her) but more and more kids started taunting her, calling her a monster, a freak, and she just wanted them to stop, she kept telling them to stop, to leave her alone, and she heard Neal saying the same and then the same boy who started it pushed Neal, and he fell, and Neal's her friend and he was just trying to help, and she's mad, she's angry, she's scared, she just wants them to stop-

She doesn't know how it happened. One seconds she's telling them to stop, and the next the boy who was bothering her, bothering Neal, is flying backwards, by some...something from her hands. She's shaking, she's scared, they were right, she's a freak, she's a monster, just like her mom, and she must look like her too, and she hears teacher coming, and she knows she going to get in trouble, she doesn't want to get in trouble, her parents are always telling her to be good, and she's not, not anymore, and the teachers are getting closer, so she does the first thing that comes to mind,

she runs.


	2. Chapter 2

**So, I actually didn't plan on writing a second part to this, I was content to leave it a one-shot, but apparently Fourth of July parties give me inspiration for fanfics. This part is in Regina's pov, and I might do another part of Rowan's pov if anyone's interested, but if not then I'm content to leave it a two parter.**

She's at work, with paperwork up to her neck when she gets the call Storybrooke Elementary.

Her daughter's missing.

She's at the school with a simple flick of her wrist, calling Robin and telling him everything that they've told her. There was an incident with some of the other children, Rowan used magic, panicked, and ran. She stays on the phone with him while she talks to the principal and Snow, listens as Neal recounts what happened word from word as if he's told the story a thousand times already (he probably has) and then promptly ignores the principal's half assed apology about what's happened. She doesn't want an apology from a man who still sees her as the Evil Queen, who probably is only looking for her daughter because it's procedure, not because he actually cares.

What she wants is her daughter safe and sound and in her arms.

Robin is at the school ten minutes later, frown lines more apparent than ever, and then they're off, leaving to look for their daughter. Soon enough, word gets around that Rowan is missing, and the whole town seems to join their effort. But there's no luck. One thing Regina wishes she could change about her daughter; the fact that when Rowan doesn't want to be found, she won't be.

That's why hide and go seek is a game no longer allowed in their house.

She feels stupid for not thinking of it before.

They've been looking everywhere, herself, Robin, and half of the town, when she remembers that she can simply make a locator spell. So she goes to her vault, gathers the necessary ingredients, makes the spell and pours it on Rowan's green beanie that she left in the car that she left in the car that morning, and then she's following a flying green bean from her vault and toward the woods (apparently the Merry Men hadn't searched the entire woods).

She's walking for a little while when she realizes that she remembers this path. She's taken it herself, when she had first found out Zelena was her sister. And sure enough, she finds her daughter sitting on the same fallen log she had been sitting on as she reread that letter over and over again, the same log where Robin had found her and she found herself expressing things she never thought she would express out loud.

Regina slowly approaches Rowan, sitting on the log beside her. "Do you want to talk about what happened today?" Regina asks lightly, knows that they should talk about it, but she also knows that nothing good can come from pushing children to talk about something they're not ready to talk about. So instead she decides to go with a different approach, "Do you have any question? It doesn't have to be specifically about what happened at school." Regina adds the last part quickly when she sees Rowan tense.

Regina watches as her daughter bites her wobbling bottom lip before she turns and looks at her. "You're not my mom?"

The question sends a sharp pain of hurt through her, and she finds herself shaking her head and reaching over to move a fallen strand of hair behind Rowan's ear, but the child shifts that her hand falls onto the decaying log beneath them. She ignore the lump that forms in her throat at the rejection, kids are irrational and emotional she reminds herself, before she clears her throat and blinks several times to rid the tears from her eyes. She turns her body completely toward Rowan, and the child looks at her through dark lashes that are wet with tears, her blue eyes stormy with emotions. "Rowan, of course I'm your mother. I might not have carried you around in my belly, but remember how I told you that I didn't carry Henry in my belly and that he was carried in Emma's? And how Roland was in Marian's?" she waits for Rowan to nod, "well, Henry's still my little prince, Roland's still my little knight, and you're my little princess."

There's a little smile on Rowan's lips at the nickname (she's always adored it) and she nods before there's another pout on her little pink lips. "Everyone says that she was bad. I don't wanna be bad like her mommy."

"And you're not going to be baby," Regina says, and when she reaches out this time Rowan comes willingly, laying her head on her chest. Regina burrows her face in her fiery red hair and tangled her hand in her hair. "Rowan, evil isn't born, it's made. Your mother wasn't born the way that she ended up being, things happened to her that made her that way. But you don't have to be like her, you can make your own decisions and be a good person. And you are. You are a good person already."

"But I-I hurt that boy mommy," Regina hates how small and scared her daughter sounds (why didn't she handle this better?), "I didn't mean it, I promise, but he was being mean to me and then he was being mean to Neal and-"

"You didn't mean it. You were scared, rightfully so, and you didn't know that you were going to hurt him. You didn't mean it, right?"

Rowan shakes her head and burrows her head further into her chest.

"And you feel bad that you hurt him?"

Rowan nods and mumbles, "I feel worse then when I eat too much ice cream."

The comment has Regina chuckling, smiling as she twist a lock of Rowan's hair around her finger. "Then you must feel really really bad."

They're both quiet for a moment, before Rowan raises her head, looking at her mother through wet lashes. "Do you think papa's gonna be mad at me?"

Regina doesn't even have to think. "Of course not Rowan. Listen to me, what you did at school today, it's not your fault. Now, you shouldn't have run away," her voice is just a little bit more stern, because Rowan knows better and she's effectively scared the hell out of her parents, "and your papa might be a little tiny bit upset about that, but not about the magic. Alright?"

Rowan nods, looks down at her hands before she looks at her with hopeful expression. "So even if you're not my mom, I can still grow up to be good like you?"

Regina can't stop her eyes from tearing up, or her throat from forming a lump so large it's hard to swallow. She does swallow though, waits a moment before speaking (she's sure her voice will crack with emotion), before she shakes her head and watches as confusion mars the little girl's features. "You won't be good like me Rowan, you'll be better. I know you will."

And she will, Regina promises herself. Rowan will be the best person she can be, she will never feel unloved or unwanted. She'll never know the pain of feeling rejected by her mother.

Rowan smiles, a wide smile that showcases her deep dimples, before she lunges into Regina's arms.

"I love you mom."

Rowan's been saying those words for years, but they make her heart stutter as if it's the first time.

"I love you too my little princess."


End file.
